ComicBooks.com Register / Loginit's free!

Life, 1920-12-09 · page 40 of 44

Life — December 9, 1920 — page 40: what you’re looking at

📖 Open the full issue in the page-flip reader →
Life — December 9, 1920 — page 40: Life, 1920-12-09

What you’re looking at

This page combines **literary advertising with a moral tale**. The main narrative, "A Short Chapter in the History of a Trap," is a tragic story about animal suffering: a man sets a trap baited with a dead robin, hoping to catch fur-bearing prey. Instead, his neighbor's pet cat Tootsie is caught and loses her paw. The trap is reset, and another neighborhood cat is implied to meet the same fate. The story appears to **critique casual cruelty and indifference to animal suffering**—the trapper thinks only of profit, unaware of the domestic pets endangered by his trap. The repeated victimization (implied by "One of the victims") suggests systemic carelessness. The page also advertises **O. Henry collections and Hudson's Bay Blankets** as Christmas gifts, seemingly incongruous with the dark animal-suffering narrative above. The bottom illustration shows a small figure viewing framed portraits on a wall, captioned "IF LITTLE BEGGY OF PEYSTER COULD HAVE CHOSEN HIS ANCESTORS"—a separate satirical comment on heredity and social status.

📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

“LIFE. The MOTROLA Winds any phonograph el At all phonograph shops. »S The IDEAL XMAS GFT, For HIS X’mas a GENUINE HUDSON'S BAY BLANKET The highest quality all-wool blanket, made for outdoor use. For yachting, motoring, football, camping, canoeing and all purposes where protection is essential. Will shed water. Colors guaranteed fast. All double, 814, 10 and 12 Ibs, Scarlet, blue, white, green, gray and khaki. Se Gy The D. Pike Co. KS 7f 114 John Street New York Ee 4 A Short Chapter in the History of a Trap T was placed under a rock cliff, a few feet from where forest and field met in a tangle of sedge grass. A robin whose body was not yet cold was used as the bait. The thoughts of the man were only of the price he would receive for the fur of the animal he hoped to find struggling there on his return, In the yard of the house just a few rods from the trap frolicked otsie, an overgrown kitten, pet of the household. In his play he came to the edge of the field. A rabbit jumped up and hopped away. Tootsie started in pursuit, It had been Tootsie’s habit to come to the living-room windows at what he con- sidered a proper bedtime, and hang on the screen until he was given admittance. That night the household missed his cun- ning maneuver. Tootsie was still miss- ing the next morning. On the third night a faint ery was heard. Opening the window, his mistress called, “Tootsie!” His answering cry told of his condition before he was brought in to the light with only a crushed, bleeding stump where his right forefoot had been. But, the expression in Lis eyes when he looked up at his owner— the wild look of horror that told too plainly of those days and nights of agony ; the dumb question as to why this should have happened to him, was one his owner never forgot. Again the trap was set. This time a dove was used as bait . Tom was a neighborhood cat. One of the victims of the superstition that it is can imagin kind— was wa downstairs knew where @ pagne and my could be had. that night she @ go. That was Kitchener's de But another nig O. HENR 274 Short Stories—One Long Novel Like the Caliph of ancient Rag Henry. He has explored ful New ork, fle bh : as sat as a tramp, on a park bench, w adventure around the corner. And bed it. The city was his w him tribute of rich store of material fon and the key to that isn ns to most of us a se From the few who to the 350,000 who have heautiful volumes offered y EB stylist who sits among his on the street—the whole nati Henry—and hails him, with our greatest writer of ‘stories. E. Phillips Oppen! Whether it be in the lonely wastes d] North Atlantic—the vague mystery of al don fog—out on the desolate moor—e the gay midnight frolics of Oppenheim always bas a story to tell. He makes them so real that you everything about you in the joy of lets you into secrets that ta ay, He shows you the reali ropean diplomacy. He thralied with the romance, the tale right up to the very last wor Your Last Chance to Get a Se Oppenheim FREE! This is the last edition of Oppenh the special price which permits of our givicg away with O. Henry. When this one edition (and there are only a comparatively few sets new you will be able to get Oppenheim's w at their regular price of $1 Publishers of the American Renew of Reviews 30 Irving Place ee ee es ee Review of Reviews Company, 30 Irving Place, New York City. 1. charges paid by you, O.1enry’s comicbooks.com